“He’s a fierce cat”, “he’s so scary”, “he’s so fierce”, “hurry release him”, “ooh feisty”. These are some of the comments that we have heard regarding Pepper. We admit we did think the same and have some reservations and fear towards Pepper initially, but we told ourselves to let go of these fears and to embrace Pepper fully. Now, Pepper is a cute, vocal and affectionate boy, all ready for his furever home. He has shown us that love and time can conquer all, and that everypawdy should be given a chance.

At first glance, Pepper seems like a cutie pie, small and handsome. When we tried to go near his cage to feed him and clean the cage, however, he lunged at the gate and growled loudly. There was no way we could feed him without getting scratched. We were really helpless and at a loss as to what to do. We desperately wanted to rehome Pepper and his sister, Millie, from the day that we set our eyes on them, but how do we do that without proper space and experience if they are so skittish? Pepper and Millie were just cute little fluffballs barely the size of a rat, running around the kitchen of a factory precariously with their mummy, with an eye on our food and the other eye constantly on the lookout for possible hazards like big looming hoomans, heavy vehicles, dogs and other threats. The poor little ones were forced to grow up faster than our sheltered pets. They must have been terrified as some of their friends had passed away right under their eye from dog attacks or lorry accidents.

About a month ago, we caught Pepper and Millie for sterilisation. That was when we discovered that Pepper wasn’t the easiest cat to handle as he would hiss, growl, stamp his paws and charge at the carrier gate. Millie was shy and she would hiss in fear too but she didn’t try to attack us. Poor Pepper must have been through a lot to be so reactive to humans.

After we sent Pepper and Millie to the clinic for sterilisation, the clinic staff informed us that Pepper had a wound on his tail. We didn’t even notice it at first as it wasn’t obvious from the position that he was sitting in 😿 Poor Pepper… that must have been the reason for his swiping and growling. He wasn’t an aggressive cat by nature, but he needed to protect himself and he was in pain from his wound. The clinic staff said Pepper was fierce too and asked if we wanted to treat his tail wound or leave it. We told them to treat Pepper’s tail wound. Whether or not we were going to rehome Pepper, we knew we had to treat him. We could not just leave him in pain and release him with a raw wound.

The doctor did an xray for Pepper and found that he had a fractured tail. It was probably an old wound as there had been signs of healing. There was still blood on Pepper’s wound though, so he required daily wound cleaning. As Pepper did not allow us to go near him at that time, we had to board him at the clinic. After about a week, his wound seemed to be dryer, so we discharged Pepper and continued to care for him at home. We decided to rehome Pepper and Millie after all. We just didn’t have the heart to release them.

Initially, Pepper was still very much a scaredy-cat, always hissing when we approached the cage and cowering in fear. He would also lunge at the gate before we could open it to place the food inside. We were so scared that we could only drop kibbles one at a time into the cage through the holes on top.

After about a week, Pepper seemed to let his guard down slightly. With each passing week, we could see his improvement. He gradually started rubbing himself against the cage, although he still hisses at strangers. We thought that perhaps he was ready to explore life beyond his cage, so we let him out to smell the flowers and grass. It was certainly the right decision. Pepper allowed us to carry him to and from the grass, and he was elated to be out. He soaked in the sunshine and pranced around joyfully. We were so happy just looking at him.

Millie stayed in the cage when we opened the door, but she was also very happy when we carried her out to play with her brother. She is so cute. We just want to squish her when we see her. She is a really clever and sweet girl. We love her so much. She looks like Totoro and is probably Totoro’s younger sister from a later litter. She used to be fearful too but will now inch closer for a chin rub. How adorable 😻

Pepper and Millie have come a long way and started to trust and love humans. Will you give them a furever home, show them the kindness and beauty in this world and help to maintain their love and trust in humans please? Thank you❣️🐱

Pepper: Male, 5 months young, white & grey, sterilised, FIV/FeLV negative, affectionate

Millie: Female, 5 months young, grey tabby, sterilised, sweet